A PERSON HIKES SIX MILES TO BOURN POND VIA THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL CARRYING BOTH VOLUMES OF THE ATLAS OF CONTEMPORARY WORLD ARCHITECTURE IN ORDER TO SUBMERGE THEM… THE HIKER RETURNS HOME WITH THE BOOKS… AND INTERTWINED, ALLOWS THEM TO DRY IN THE WIND.

there are geologic layers that form these mountainsthe verts montsthese layers under this terrainthere is a supporting structurelayer upon layer builtand when the clouds cast shadows on the mountains it is another layer yetthe architecture of terra firma beneathunder the mountains under these trailsdictating this shapethe shape of these mountains and the trails that navigate themseparating the land, and consequently the canopy, and consequently the air, and the consequences of the error of my waysalwayssurrounding me and separating usthe forest from the treesagain and againundulating to form the skylinethis line is a space unto itselfthe space I occupy

The Green and Taconic Mountains are part of the Appalachians, a complex mix of mountains formed by a series of continental collisions that took place over a period of more than 1 billion years. All mountains are formed by one or more of three processes: convergence, subduction and volcanism. All of this movement is called “Continental Drift,” caused by the shifting of the Earth’s crust over the molten center as the earth spins around the solar system in space. These Mountains were formed by this movement.

all of this spacespace as in distance and distance as in a measurable lengthone traveled from this the closest location from meto there the furthest location to youit is as far as the eye can seesometimes sublimation makes for an alternative destinationthe space between us in bed the chasm that it isbecause the slowest speeds or closest distances the eye cannot perceive eitherthe distance between the particles of ink in these letters as you stand there reading them nowstill the divide between us is an expanse that will not be bridgedthe rift made ever so slightly larger by the continental driftand as the universe expands so does the rift, so does that divideand if our bodies allowed for it, in a million years we could fit the planets between us

In geology, subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate, sinking into the Earth’s mantle, as the plates converge. Rates of subduction are typically measured in centimeters per year, with the average rate of convergence being approximately 2 to 8 centimeters per year, about the rate of fingernail growth.

I explain to myself that you cannot see the birch trees or goldenrod grow during the daybut actually you can, you can see them grow, but you do not know you are watching them growor perhaps you do know, as I do, but simply cannot measurably observe themand overnight they grow still why you are not watchingand you cannot see the goldenrod at nightyou cannot see the birch trees or anythingfor it is a world of silhouettes down here tonightsilhouettes from pole building lightsand a nation of farmers from the west work past dinner to silhouette that mountain

it’s semblance is of you lying on your left side... afterward... facing away

afterglow it is notit is tired and wants to sleepbut it cannotit never can

Scientists believe that the Green Mountains were formed over 400 million years ago and reached an elevation of approximately 8,000 feet beyond their current one. They have slowly been eroded (worn down) by the forces of wind, water and ice to become the mountains we know today

the middle ground is the point of impactthe impact is very much the pointthese formative eventsthe upheaval involved in the making of mountainsforever alter the landscapethis orogeny that is our urban time without nary an undulating skyline, save Gehry and his bandshellhas been a baptême du feubecause this journey to the mountains is the very thing that has divided usdriven by my compulsion to avenge my father’s fate at the hands of the structured industrialized world and parental obligationstogether revealing themselves as “The vndiscouered Countrey; from whose Borne No Traueller returnes”

and we, betwixt these rangessituated in this hamletfind our momentit comes to me as pellucid as the spring watersflowing from beneath the land eternally refilling our glasses here

of how collisions of this kind always take timeyou say you’ve waited long for thisand I think of how you can measure my growth on your fingertips

Continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries. It is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains produced, and two continents sutured together whereby the continental crust is rippled and folded above the line of impact. The Taconic mountain range was formed from the collision of the North American Plate into a volcanic island arc around 440 million years ago. The eastern side of the Taconics are divided from the Green Mountains when they fall off abruptly into the river valleys.